


Miraculous Rewrite!

by CeriseRae



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, F/M, Live action versions aren't great but write what you want to see right?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 11:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20545670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeriseRae/pseuds/CeriseRae
Summary: This is my take on what a live action teen drama-esque version of miraculous ladybug would be like.I don't own miraculous ladybug or any of its characters, this is just for fun!





	Miraculous Rewrite!

_ A woman, maybe early twenties, walked briskly through the temple. A young boy, no more than 10 years old had to run to keep up with her. They came up to a door and she paused, kneeling in front of the boy. “Wang Yong, in case this doesn’t end how we want it to I want you to take the box and flee”, she reached up and undid her earrings. Gently, she placed them into his hand. “Take them all and keep them safe.” _

_ He shook his head, trying to give them back, “I can’t!” _

_ “Yes, you can. You are brave, and you will make a fine guardian. Now go, take care of my little Li Jie. Go!” _

_ She turned back to the door and thrust it open with a flourish. _

_ “Li Qiang!” another young boy stood at the other end of the room. Upon hearing his name he spun to face the woman. She saw he held two small boxes in his arms. She could see he was wearing the butterfly already. “If you hand them over now, we can forget this ever happened.”  _

_ The boy looked conflicted for a moment before his face hardened, “it’s too late! There’s nothing you can do.” His voice turned pleading, “just give me the rest, they’ll let you live if you comply.” _

_ Her gaze darkened, “I have chosen my path, and it appears you have as well. But there is no way you could hope to win, even if you did use one against me!” _

_ “Well it's a good thing I have three then.” _

_ Her eyes widened in shock, “there’s no way you could withstand that amount of magic, it will kill you!” _

_ He was done listening to her it seemed, out of nowhere a monk appeared, trying to grab the woman. She dodged gracefully, making quick work to immobilize him. When she turned back to the boy he had already donned the other two and the strain was taking its toll. The room around them was being torn to shreds, if she didn’t do something the energy would coalesce and potentially destroy the whole country, if not the world. Using the residual power left from her earrings she encompassed the temple hoping it would be enough to keep everyone outside safe. _

_ Everything went white. _

Marinette sat up gasping for air and trying to gain her bearings. The dream had seemed so real, watching through the woman’s eyes. 

“Xiǎo huā! You don’t want to be late for your first day!”

_ Paris, you’re in Paris and you’re 15 and today’s your first day back to school. Right. _

“Coming mama!” She quickly got dressed and headed down to the kitchen, where her mother was making breakfast.

“Are you okay Xiǎo huā? It’s not like you to sleep through all of your alarms.”

Marinette sat, thinking back to her dream, but it was already starting to fade away. “Yeah, I just had a weird dream, that’s all.”

Sabine handed her a plate and she and Marinette chatted about the coming day.

“I really hope Chloe isn’t in my class again this year.”

“Surely three years in a row is enough?”

“With my luck we’ll have to be deskmates”, Marinette shivered at the thought.

“It would be nice if Rose or Juleka were in your class, then you would have friends to suffer through the year with.”

Her mom turned serious for a moment, “don’t forget what we discussed, if Chloe gets to be too much for you to handle we will get you moved somewhere safer.”

Marinette smiled at her mom, “don’t worry! The Dauphine of Françoise Dupont doesn’t phase me anymore!”

They both laughed.

Across town, a train shuddered into the station, an elderly man just waking up from a fitful slumber climbs off the train and begins moving down the street. The dream was startling, but not uncommon; it was a scene that he saw constantly, day and night. It always ended when he reached a hill, his small legs running as fast as he could, the box in his arms heavy. Just as he’s about to start moving up the hill a blinding white light encompasses everything and he wakes up.

Shaking the thoughts away, he moves into a small alley and a tiny green floating turtle flies from his pocket. “Master, I sense her.”

“You do?” He dared to hope, after so many years, he was sure he’d never see them again.

“Yes… but I also sense a great darkness, I fear  he is here as well.”

“He may have sensed her as well, we must find her before he does.”

The small turtle god nods and hides back in the old man’s pocket.

“Bye papa!” Marinette called as she started to run through the bakery.

“Honey, Macarons!” He called back.

She ran backwards to the door of the kitchen and he handed them to her. “Thank you! I hope everyone likes them.”

He smiled at her, “everyone will love them just as much as they will love you!” He kissed her forehead and she was off again.

She made it to class a few minutes before it started and went to take her normal spot. She went to climb the stairs but a leg shot out in front of her. She didn’t have time to stop herself and ended up falling, dropping the box of Macarons.

Just great! Marinette thought as she started cleaning up the mess.

She heard stifled giggles and turned to see Chloe and Sabrina walk past her and sit in her seat.

“Oops!” 

“Sorry, didn’t see you there. You know should really pay more attention to your surroundings Dupain-Cheng.” The blonde smirked.

Marinette paused for a moment before looking up sweetly, “Oh Chloe, it’s alright!. But you should really look into getting glasses. I mean your eyes must be pretty bad to have not seen me.” She gave another bright smile and went back to picking up the macarons. She debated trying to get her normal seat back, why did Chloe suddenly decide to sit there anyway? But after a moment she decided it would be better for her mental health to just find another seat.

Suddenly another set of hands were helping her clean up the mess. 

Looking up, she came face to face with another girl, she had dark skin, auburn hair, and she wore glasses. The stranger gave her a knowing smile. She looked familiar but Marinette couldn’t place her, she was sure she’d never met her before.

“You would think that the Mayor’s daughter would be able to at least buy some manners, you know?” She said this loudly enough for the blonde to hear.

The blonde glared at the girl, sizing her up. “Oh look Sabrina! We’ve got a superhero in our class this year! What are you gonna do four eyes? Fire laser beams at me with your glasses?”

“Maybe, and ‘four eyes’, really? If you’re gonna insult me at least be original”

“Word of advice newbie, you can’t save everyone,'' she looked pointedly at Marinette as she spoke.

“We’ll see.” She smiled just as sweetly as Marinette had then went back to picking up the destroyed cookies.

They finished picking up the mess and the new girl grabbed her arm, pulling her down to the front row on the opposite side. “Come on we can sit together!” She paused, “unless you have someone else you were waiting for?”

Marinette shook her head, “I usually sit alone.”

The girl smiled, “not anymore! I’m Alya by the way.”

“Marinette.” She looked down at the box, there were five macarons that survived the massacre, she pulled out two and handed one to Alya. 

They touched them together in a toast, but just before they could eat them there was a call from the door.

“Marinette! I can’t believe we’re all in the same class together!”

The two looked over to see a short blonde girl in a pink dress standing just in front of a tall girl with dark hair covering one eye.

The two newcomers walked over and introduced themselves to the new girl.

“Hello! I’m Rose”, the petite blonde turned to her companion, “and this is Juleka”.

The tall girl gave a small smile and even smaller wave. 

“I’m Alya, nice to meet you!”

Marinette pulled two more macarons out and handed them back to Rose and Juleka. The two smiled in thanks.

The four chatted for a few moments before more students started to enter the classroom. 

“We better find a spot or we might not get to sit together.” Rose turned to Juleka before she looked for open seats, “Looks like the back row is open!” She grabbed Juleka’s hand and pulled her up to the seat.

A moment later the teacher walked into the classroom.

“Hello students! It’s so good to see so many familiar faces!” Turning she saw Alya, “and some new!” She turned back to the class and saw a familiar red cap just behind Ivan, “Nino, why don’t you come sit up front this year?” She asked gently. She wanted to keep an extra close watch on him after all he went through the previous year.

The boy grumbled, while she caught sight of him, Nathaniel had managed to stay hidden behind the large boy in front of them.

He flopped down in the seat in front of Chloe. “Ms. Bustier this is unacceptable! I was saving the front seat for my Adrikins. He’ll be here any moment!”

“Chloe there’s more than enough room for two people at these desks. He can share with Nino and maybe they can become friends!”

Chloe huffed and muttered under her breath, “not with the likes of  him. ”

Marinette and Alya exchanged a look, “Adrikins?”

Chloe’s head snapped around to glare at them, “ugh, Adrien Agreste! He’s only the most amazing model of our generation. And we’ve been friends since we were little.”

Marinette perked up at hearing his full name, she knew who that was. He was one of her favorite models, and his father owned one of her favorite brands. Though she would never say it out loud, she did have a tiny crush on the model. He appeared to be nice enough in interviews, but if he was friends with  Chloe … well she wasn’t gonna hold out much hope that he was really as nice as he seemed.

I’m almost there , the boy thought to himself as he ran through the Parisian streets, dodging around people and carts. A familiar car pulled up on the street in front of him. He panicked and darted into an alley. He ran down the narrow passage coming to an intersection of four buildings,  if I go straight then right at the next intersection I should come out right next to the school . He went through the first and got ready to turn right but as he approached the second he heard something on his left.

“You cannot take this! It is very important!”

“Yeah and it looks old and valuable, I bet it’ll catch a good price.”

“Hand it over old man!”

Adrien reached the intersection and peeked around the corner. An old man, clutching something to his chest, was being cornered by two guys, one of which was holding what looked like a bat. He knew time was of the essence but… he heard the old man yell again. No, he could just leave him! He looked around and found a length of pipe lying on the ground.  Not quite my sabre but it’ll have to do. He quietly picked it up and slipped into the alley behind the men. 

“Hey! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size!” Adrien wasn’t sure where that burst of confidence came from but he sure hoped it would stay. All three turned to look at him, “you got a problem pretty boy?” Bat-guy chuckled, and moved closer to Adrien. “This doesn’t concern you, so if you turn around and run away I’ll let you live.”

Adrien stood frozen for a moment before taking a step back and turning.

“That’s what I thoug--”

Without warning Adrien spun around, using the pipe to know the bat out of his hand. The bat clattered to the ground.

“I have a better idea, you and your friend leave the man alone and get lost.” Adrien lightly leaned against the wall, a slight smirk on his face.

“Why you little!” Bat-guy dove for Adrien but was too slow, Adrien moved out of the way and Bat-guy’s moment drove him into the wall. Adrien slipped around him and was able to trip up the disoriented man, causing him to fall into a small pile of garbage that littered the ground.

Adrien turned back to the other guy, who had slowly moved from the old man’s side, picking up the bat. He gulped, looking from Adrien to his friend on the ground, before rushing Adrien. Adrien parried, getting a feel for how the pipe moved and lunged at the guy. He was able to knock the bat from his hand after a moment of fighting. The man glared and ran towards Adrien, planning to use his larger size to knock the boy off balance. Adrien used his smaller size to his advantage and dropped into a ball as the man neared causing him to go flying over Adrien and onto his friend. Both groaned and Adrien took the opportunity to run to the old man and help him out of the alley. They came out behind the school. 

“Thank you so much young man!” 

Adrien smiled, “It was nothing sir.”

“But what were you doing in the alley to begin with?”

Adrien sighed, “I was trying to get to the school” he motioned to the building they still stood by. “My father wants me to continue homeschooling but being cooped up in my house all day is driving me crazy!” He sighed again, “my bodyguard is probably waiting at the entrance to bring me back home though.”

The man smiled at him, “you might still make it in time.”

Adrien gave a sad smile back, “thanks but it was worthless to even try, even if I do make it before he gets there, he would have no problems coming in and carrying me out.”

The old man gave him a sly look, “things may change for you yet.” He turned and walked away, leaving Adrien confused.

He shook off the feeling and turned to run back around the school, maybe the old man was right?

He wasn’t. 

Gorilla and Nathalie were, in fact, were just pulling up to the entrance as he reached the stairs. He slumped as they exited the car.

“Adrien please! You know what you’re father wants for you!”

Adrien turned back, “but that’s not what  I want ! I want to be a normal kid and go to school like everyone else!”

Nathalie at least gave him a sympathetic look, the boy sighed, “don’t tell my father about this… please.” He slowly walked back down the steps and into the waiting car.

The old man walked down the street, towards a crosswalk, the smell of croissants wafting from the bakery across the street. The small turtle carefully floated out of its hiding spot, making sure he was not seen, and whispered in it’s master’s ear.

“I am confused master, I sense her magic in two places.” It pointed to the bakery across the street and then behind them to the school.

Had she really been gone long enough to have a child?

He decided to wait and observe.

Adrien dreaded going back into the mansion, he knew that, even though he asked Nathalie not to tell, that she would. It was her job after all. He sighed and slowly moved towards the front door.

“Please go get your books and we will begin your lessons.” Nathalie asked as they walked in. She turned to move towards her employer’s office, “I will see you in the dining room in ten minutes.”

“Yes Nathalie”, he turned to go towards the stairs and froze.

“Adrien? What are you doing home? You’re supposed to be at school.” A woman stood on the stairs, close to the bottom, leaning on the marble railing. Her blonde hair sat in a loose braid over one shoulder, her green eyes dimmer than they should be.

“Mom! What are you doing out of bed?” Adrien moved towards her, “you’re too weak to be up.”

Nathalie had turned when she heard Emilie’s voice, “Ma'am, you should not be up”.

“Thank you for your concern”, Emilie looked between her son and the assistant, “both of you, but I am feeling better today and was feeling a little cooped up. Now why aren’t you at school?” She asked, turning to look at her son once more.

He looked down, Nathalie spoke up, “Gabriel doesn’t feel that Adrien being in public school is a good idea, he has decided that I will take over his educa--” 

Before she could finish, Emilie had mustered up enough strength to finish descending the staircase and pushed past the assistant and throw open the door to Gabe’s office, Adrien and Nathalie on her heels.

“Gabriel!” The designer jumped at the sudden outburst, knocking things from his desk. “You promised me that when I got too sick to be Adrien’s teacher, you would let him go to school!”

He sighed, “Emilie, you shouldn’t be up.”

“Don’t try to change the subject, he should be able to go to school like other kids.” 

Before he could respond, she wobbled and started to fall. Adrien darted up, leaning into her and held her up. 

“Come on mom, you need to rest.”

“And you need to be in school.”

“Mom,” he looked up at her, “I’ll be fine, but you need to rest and get your strength back.”

Gabriel moved around his desk, “I’ll take her back to her room”.

He reached down and picked her up, carrying her out of the room.

“Please Gabe, he needs this, please, let him go, for me.” She begged softly as he climbed the stairs. 

He paused at the top, sighing he spoke as he moved towards her room, “very well, he will start there in the morning. But I still think this is a mistake.”

She smiled and leaned into him, exhausted.

Marinette stretched, even though it was only the first day back, she was ready to be done.

Alya turned to her, “Want to eat at the park?” Rose and Juleka were just coming down the stairs, “the four of us could have a picnic!”

“That sounds wonderful!” Rose gushed, “we could get some food from the bakery!”

“Sounds like a plan!” Marinette stated as she led the way out.

“Mari’s parents own the best bakery in all of Paris! Maybe even the world!” Rose told Alya as the left the classroom.

Marinette blushed at the compliment and shook her head. “So Alya, I wanted to ask earlier, is this your first day here?”

“Nope! I started here last year, I was in class with Ivan and Alix, but we didn’t talk much.”

“That’s why you looked familiar!”

They chatted as they walked to the crosswalk, waiting for the light to change. A loud call pulled their attention to an elderly man walking into the crosswalk, cars racing towards him. Before anyone else could react, Marinette bolted out, tackling the man back onto the sidewalk. 

The light changed and her friends rushed across the street.

“You are insane!”

“Are you okay? You're not injured are you?”

“What were you thinking?”

Marinette ignored her friends’ frantic shouts in favor of checking on the old man.

He seemed fine, just a bit shaken. He looked to be Chinese and he was whispering a prayer of thanks in what sounded like Min. It’s what her mother had taught her but even so she wasn’t familiar with everything he said.

She greeted him, hoping that he would understand and that she wouldn’t accidentally insult him.

He seemed surprised at her greeting and just stared at her for a few moments before shaking himself from his stupor.

“Thank you for helping me, I am alright.” 

She paused for a moment before smiling at the man. “Would you like a cup of tea?” She pointed to the bakery, “This is where I live, it will only take a moment.”

Her friends had calmed down once they saw that neither were injured, and agreed with Marinette that he should take a few moments to rest. They helped him into the bakery.

While all that was happening across town, the students of Le Collège Lisieux packed their bags, getting ready for the long lunch period. “Cosette, want to come to the cafe with us?” one of her friends asked.

“I would, but I have to go home and make sure mom doesn’t need any help with the twins.”

They smiled and waved goodbye to each other as Cosette turned towards her home. 

The cheerful blonde walked with a spring in her step, her thoughts on her family. She turned down an empty street, wishing she hadn’t forgotten her headphones that morning. She got to a crosswalk but just as she was about to cross, she heard a yell and turned to see an older man in the middle of oncoming traffic. Without thinking, she turned and dashed out pulling him out of the way just before a car could hit him.

“Are you okay sir?” Cosette turned to the old man, checking to make sure he wasn’t injured. He looked towards her and she could see that half of his face was covered in scars, they traveled down his neck. It looked like he had been badly burned at some point in his life. But other than that he seemed fine.

The man looked at Cosette for a moment before smiling. “Yes, thank you for saving me dear, you’re a true hero!”

She blushed, glancing away, “I was just in the right place at the right time, I’m not a hero.”

“Would you like to be?” 

She looked at him, “what do you mean?”

He held out a small box, it was made of a dark brown wood and had red markings, in the center of the markings looked to be a picture of a fan.

“With this,” he told her, “you will become a hero, you can help me fight the growing evils of this city and help individuals destroy their negative emotions. Do you accept?”

“I-I… don’t know that I can help. I don’t think I’m really ‘hero material’.”

She stared down at the box, missing the sinister smile on the man’s face, “trust me, you are the only one that can use this to help me. There is a great evil that is coming to Paris. Without you, everyone is doomed.”

She hesitantly took the box, “I guess I can try.”

“Good, I’ll be in touch.”

“Wait, what do I--” She looked up but he was gone. Looking around the empty street for a moment, there was no way he could have gotten out of her site that fast. It was like he just… vanished.

Clutching the box, she quickly made her way home.

“Mom! Do you have any tea made?” Marinette called as the group walked into the bakery. Lunch patrons were starting to trickle in and Marinette knew that it would soon be crowded.

Sabine was turned away when they walked in, “of course! Let me get a cup.” She turned to face them and dropped the cup in shock.

Marinette ran over to her mom, “Are you okay?” She bent to pick up the broken pieces. Her mother continued to stare at the old man, he held her gaze. “Mom?”

She turned to her daughter, “what happened?”

Marinette gave her mom a confused look,  _ how could she have known that something happened?  _

Rose happily supplied the details, “Marinette totally saved… um I’m sorry, I don’t think we got your name.”

The old man smiled, still looking at Sabine, “Shi Nian Zhen”

“A car almost hit Mr. Shi, but Marinette pushed him out of the way! It was crazy!”

Sabine’s voice was tight, “well that does sound crazy. Are you okay Xiǎo huā?”

“Yes! You taught me how to fall remember?”

The older woman smiled softly, “I did, didn’t I?” Her tone change, as she addressed the girls, “well, why don’t I take care of Mr. Shi, and you girls go have lunch.”

Sabine finished cleaning up the broken cup, and pulled out a new one. While she prepared more tea, the girls left their bags upstairs, grabbed some food and blankets, and made their way out. 

Once the girls were gone, Sabine turned to the old man. “What are you doing here Fu?”

“Nice to see you too. It’s only been what? Twenty years since you disappeared?”

“And why do you think that is?” She turned to help someone with their pastries.

Fu moved around the counter, “I know that you were unhappy with how things were done, but--”

“But nothing! You all treated me like a warrior, preparing me for a war that is never going to happen. You may have kept my mother, and grandmother and her grandmother roped into this delusion, but I’m done. I’m not gonna treat my daughter like that.” She was furiously whispering at him when there were no customers by the desk.

“I sense him.”

She paused slowly looking over at her old mentor. “What?”

“I got into town early this morning, and… I sensed him. And you, I thought I taught you better than that.”

Sabine shook her head, “that’s impossible, there’s no way you could have sensed me. I put up barriers just like you taught me.”

“How else would I have found you? Something must have happened to them. I will help you recreate the barriers here and Marinette’s school, we could sense her too.”

Sabine took a deep breath, trying to maintain her composure. “Fine, we set up the barriers but then you leave. I don’t want Marinette involved in this.”

“Li-Mae please, I think he’s starting to set his plan in motion.”

“Don’t call me that, and why would he suddenly start now?”

“Because you left the safety of the temple. Because he can sense you and how easy it would be to use you or Marinette to gain more miraculous’.”

She glared at the old man for a moment before calling to her husband in the back. “Tom! Can you come watch the front. Something urgent has come up that I need to deal with.”

“Of course! Take your time honey.” Tom came out, wiping his hands on his apron and taking up Sabine’s spot behind the cash register while his wife left with the elderly gentleman.

An hour and a half later they were finished placing barriers around the bakery and the school.

“This will shield you when you are here or when Marinette is at school, but it won’t help if you go anywhere else.” Fu turned, pulling a small charm bracelet from his pocket. “I made two of these while you created the barrier around the bakery. It will act as a shield wherever you go.”

Just then, Marinette and her friends returned. “Hi mama! Oh, hello Mr. Shi.” Marinette’s gaze traveled from the old man to her mother, confused as to why he was still there. 

“I just wanted to stop in and give you this.” He pulled out a small charm bracelet. It was made of various colorful beads, a large square green one in the center, they were held together with a red silk cord. “A thank you for saving my life earlier.”

She gently took the bracelet, “thank you so much! You didn’t have to do anything though!”

He smiled, “think of it as a good luck charm of sorts.”

He left, and the girls ran up to get their bags.

“Oh, mama, is it alright if I go back to the park after class to work on homework with the girls?”

Sabine looked at her daughter for a moment. Spying the charm bracelet on her wrist, she smiled. “I don’t mind, just be back before dinner.”

The girls waved goodbye and headed back to school.

The rest of the day sped by and soon the four were packing up their bags and heading out the door.

“Don’t forget we’re gonna start preparing for class representative election! Anyone who wants to run should start planning.” Ms. Bustier called as the students left her classroom.

Cosette had tried to take her mind off of her strange experience, it helped that once she got home her mother needed help with the twins. By the time lunch was over, she had completely forgotten about the odd old man and the box he had given her.

It wasn’t until after she got done with class and was sitting at her desk trying to do homework that she saw the box sitting there.

_ “With this, you will become a hero, you can help me fight the growing evils of this city and help individuals destroy their negative emotions. Do you accept?” _

_ I wonder what he meant by ‘destroy negative emotions?’  _ she thought as she picked up the box. She studied it, the red markings looked to be in a specific pattern, maybe they were words? But she wasn’t sure what language it was.

Carefully, she opened the box. There was a blinding flash of blue light, and suddenly there was a small floating… thing.

Before Cosette could scream, the small creature spoke to her.

“Don’t be afraid! I’m here to help you.”

Cosette sat in frightened silence, not sure if she should trust it.

“My name is Duusu, I am bound to the peacock miraculous,” she gestured to the small brooch still sitting in the box. “With this, and with my help, you can become a hero and save Paris from those who would destroy it.”

Cosette felt like her head was spinning, this all sounded too crazy to be real… but it wouldn’t hurt to try it out… right?

“So… how does this work?”

Duusu smiled at her, “Once you transform you’ll be able to feel the emotions of everyone around you, within a certain radius. Simply reach out, find someone who is feeling a strong negative emotion, sadness and anger are some of the easier to pick up on because they are the most projected. Once you find someone, you just have to pull that emotion from them. They’ll be free of whatever caused those feelings.”

“I feel like there’s a catch.”

Duusu shook her head, “no catch, just freedom from pain. But I should warn you, you’re only able to help one person, then you’ll have about five minutes before you’ll detransform and I will need to rest.”

Cosette nodded, helping people get rid of negative emotions could lead to a lot of good things.

She picked up the brooch and put it on, then looked at Duusu.

“Simply say, ‘Duusu, transform me.”

“Okay… Duusu, transform me!”

There was another flash of blue light and when Cosette opened her eyes Duusu was gone. Turning she looked at herself in the mirror and gasped. She looked so cool! Her hair while still blonde on top, became a deep blue at the tips. The top half of her face was covered in a mask, it was mostly a shimmery blue, but there were some white streaks by her eyes. Her eyes, while usually a light blue, had deepened to a royal blue. The coat she wore was long, it went down to her ankles, but the zipper started at her waist so the bottom flared and she was able to move. Her pants were the same shimmery blue as her jacket and mask and disappeared under shin high, lace up combat boots. At her waist, there was a small sheath.  _ A weapon? _ She pulled out what she thought would be a knife but instead it was a… feather fan?  _ Odd, but whatever. _ She shrugged and dramatically fanned herself for a moment before remembering what Duusu had said about feeling other people’s emotions. Not only did she look different, she felt different too. She felt stronger, like she could lift a whole car over her head.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and reached out, the first one she felt was her mother. She was tired, but happy. It made Cosette smile, she tried to feel the twins but they were taking a nap and she couldn’t feel much from them. She opened her eyes, looking at her window.  _ If I make sure not to go more than five minutes from home, I'll be able to make it back without any problems. _ Cosette usually worked on homework for the next few hours, her mom wouldn’t check on her, and the twins wouldn’t wake up for a while.

She quietly opened her window and slipped out, she looked at the roof of the building across the street from hers. Taking a deep breath, she jumped, hoping that she hadn’t just made a huge mistake. It was a weird sensation, she almost felt like she was flying. When she opened her eyes, she saw the roof rushing towards her and instinctively tucked and rolled onto the roof. She stood slowly, her legs like jelly. She took a moment to compose herself before doing it again, this time with her eyes open. She continued running across the rooftops, laughing as she did.

“It’s only the first day back and physics is already kicking my butt!” Marinette groaned, dropping her head to the picnic table. 

“Girl you’ve got this!” Alya leaned over and explained the problem in more detail until Marinette’s eyes lit up in understanding.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you!” all four laughed but were cut short at the sound of raised voices.

“What are you saying?” A girl with dark hair slipped in front of the brunette boy who was trying to leave.

“I’m saying that we’re not a good match. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize this but we aren’t right for each other.”

“That isn’t true! How can you just throw away all this time that we’ve had together?”

“I’m not throwing that time away, those will always be some of my best memories of us, but we just don’t work well together. It’s not your fault, maybe it’s mine, but we just… our puzzle pieces don’t go together.”

She stood, shock written all over her face, he slipped around her. “I know that one day we’ll find the people we’re supposed to be with, but that’s not each other.”

He left without another word and the girl stood there, looking like she’d been stabbed. Suddenly, she turned and ran off in a different direction.

The four looked at each other, “should someone go after her? She seemed pretty heartbroken.” Rose ventured.

“I don’t think it would hurt to make sure she’s okay.” Marinette agreed.

They quickly packed their things and followed the direction the girl went, they got to a point where the path split. One went out onto the street, the other went deeper into park. 

“Want to split up? Juleka and I can go check the street, you and Alya check the rest of the park. If anyone finds her, they can text the others.”

They all nodded and went off to look for the heartbroken girl.

Cosette had only been running for a few minutes when she was hit with a sadness so strong it nearly toppled her. She paused on a roof and looked around, she was next to a park. Closing her eyes she felt out for the owner of the emotion. There! A girl whose heart had been broken by the boy she loved. 

_ Poor girl, I should help her! _

She reached out pulling the memory of the boy, the cause of the heartache, away from the girl. As quickly as she had felt the sadness it was gone. Cosette smiled, if she couldn’t feel the girl’s pain anymore then neither could she. Turning she made her way home, glad that she could help someone. 

Back in the park, Marinette and Alya looked for the girl, she couldn’t have gotten too far away from them. But they were almost to the end of the path and they hadn’t seen her yet. They slowed, thinking that she may have gone out of the park. Marinette pulled out her phone to call Juleka when the ground shook and there was a loud scream of anguish.

The two looked at each other in alarm and dashed towards the sound. People ran past them, away from whatever made that sound but they continued forward.

They stopped when they saw it, the girl was lying on the ground and above her stood a blue… person? Specifically, it looked like the guy who had broken up with her earlier. But he had left the park, how had he gotten back? And why was he blue? 

Alya grabbed Marinette’s arm, pulling her behind a tree and pulling out her phone to record. 

“This is insane!” Alya whispered excitedly.

“Look! He’s got some people cornered.” Marinette pointed to what looked like a family, clutching each other and trying to stay very still. “We need to help them!”

Alya nodded and the two looked around to try and make a plan.

A few blocks over, Sabine heard the monstrous scream and immediately ran from the bakery. “Please, please not Marinette” she said under her breath as she ran. Reaching the park entrance, she saw Rose and Juleka trying to push their way in. 

She ran over to them, “girls, where is Marinette?”

Juleka scanned the crowd as she spoke, “still in the park I think, there was a girl who looked like she needed help. We split up to look for her.”

Sabine turned back to the crowd for a moment before looking back at the girls. “Go to the bakery, I’ll find them.”

She urged them to leave and made her way past the frantic people. She had seen Fu, a passing glimpse of the old man, standing just inside the park. 

She got inside and saw him quickly walking down a side path. She hurried after him.

The man wailed again, making the girls cover their ears. It turned, seeming to notice the family, and moved towards them. Panicking, Alya stepped out from behind the tree. “Hey! Blue Meanie! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size!”

“Blue Meanie?” Marinette whisper-shouted at her new friend.

“I don’t know! I’ve heard my sister say it!” She whispered back. 

It was enough to draw the attention of the guy and he turned his attention to Alya.

“Not good. Get them to safety! I’ll get rid of him.”

Before Marinette could object Alya had taken off, the blue guy following her at a relatively fast pace.

Marinette quickly moved towards the family, watching for the blue man in case he came back. Reaching the family she made sure they were alright, then went to the unconscious girl. Her breathing seemed normal, it was as though she had fallen asleep. They heard another loud wail from the blue man. 

The father came over and lifted the sleeping girl. “We’ll get her to safety, you should find your friend and then get out of here too.”

Marinette have a small nod and headed in the direction of the cry.

Sabine and Fu hid behind a rock, assessing the situation. Marinette’s new friend had come running into the clearing, the blue man following her while she taunted him. She was light on her feet and fast, allowing her to dance around him without him touching her.

They were debating on how to handle the man when they saw Marinette rum into the clearing. Before she had a chance to do anything, Sabine dashed out, grabbed her, and disappeared behind the rock again.

“Mom? Mr. Shi? What are you doing here?”

Sabine turned to her daughter, “stay here, we’ll get your friend.”

She turned to Fu, “peacock?”

“Most definitely. But this creature wasn’t made by him. It seems he has made his move.”

Sabine contemplated for a moment, “give me the Fox, I think it’s the best equipped for this situation.”

Just then they heard Alya yell and turned to see that she had tripped and the blue man was coming up fast.

Fu reached into his bag and pulled out a small box. It was made of dark wood and had Chinese characters etched on the surface that were painted red. In the center of the characters was a hook shape, judging by what her mother had said, she guessed it was supposed to be a fox tail.

Sabine opened the box and there was a flash of orange light, a small creature appeared it looked like a tiny floating fox. 

Sabine wasted no time in putting the necklace, “Trixx, transform me!” Sabine called. She was bathed in orange light and when it dimmed she was wearing a fox themed costume. It was a mostly white cheongsam with hints of light orange in the details. The bottom appeared to be a long flowing skirt until she moved, it wasn’t a skirt but pants with extra pieces of fabric at the back, mimicking tails. At her hip was a flute. Her face was mostly covered by a mask and her hair turned a light orange and she had large fox ears.

She moved with grace as she ran towards the blue man. She got to him just before he reached Alya and used her flute to send him flying back. Turning, Sabine helped the girl up who stared at her like she had just seen Santa.

“Wow! Thanks super fox!” She held up her phone, recording the fox hero. “What’s your name?”

Sabine turned back to the blue man who had gotten back up and was moving towards them again.

“You may call me ‘Huli Jing’. Now get out of here! It’s not safe.” 

Alya turned but paused, “I need to find my friend Marinette.” 

“I will find her after I deal with this, now go!” Huli Jing commanded. Alya ran to what she deemed a safe distance and hid behind a tree, continuing to film the fight.

The battle continued on, Fu and Marinette watching from their hiding place. Each scream that hit Sabine directly seemed to weaken her. 

“I have to help her!” Marinette watched in horror as another shriek brought Sabine to her knees.

Fu looked at her for a moment before pulling out another box from his bag, it was almost identical to the one Sabine had gotten, the only difference being the symbol in the center of the box. This one was a circle with five dots.

“This is the miraculous of the ladybug, with it, you will be able to help your mother defeat the creature.”

Marinette looked at the box for a moment before taking it. Similar to when her mom had opened the other box, there was a blinding pink light and then a small floating creature. It was red with big blue eyes and a black dot on its head. In the box was a pair of stud earrings.

“The basics are this, to transform say ‘Tikki, transform me. Once transformed, you will have a power, say lucky charm and you will receive an item that will help you in your fight. But be warned you only have five minutes after using your power before you transform back so be quick in your plans.”

Marinette nodded, putting the earrings on. Taking a deep breath, she called, “Tikki, transform me!”

In a flash of pink light she had transformed.” 

Wasting no time she jumped from her hiding place, finding a yo-yo at her side she mustered up her courage and threw the yo-yo. It was as if the yo-yo could read her thoughts because it wrapped around the blue guy, she yanked him back and sent him toppling to the ground.

“Are you okay?” Marinette asked her mom running over to her.

Sabine turned towards the rock for a moment, Fu ducked when he saw her glare.

She sighed, “I’m fine. Thanks for the assistance, but you shouldn’t be here!” The blue man roared and Sabine pulled Marinette behind her, taking the hit head on.

“Mom please, let me help you.” Marinette gave her mom a determined look.

They jumped out of the way as the man moved towards them, landing a ways from him. Sabine turned to look at her daughter, “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“And if you don’t let me help you, _ you _ could get hurt. You know I can help! You’ve been teaching me Choy Li Fut since I started walking.” Marinette retorted. 

Sabine sighed, shaking her head, “you get this stubbornness from your father’s side!”

Marinette smirked and turned back to the creature who was getting close again. “So what’s the plan?”

“This type of creature is born from emotion. Judging by the looks of it, a very strong sadness.”

Marinette thought for a moment, “I saw him earlier, he broke up with a girl. She seemed really upset by that.”

“This was most likely born from her heartbreak then these tend to take the appearance of whatever caused the strong emotion.”

“So how do we defeat an emotion?”

“By countering it with a positive emotion.”

The two split off, running on opposite sides around the blue creature. It focused on Marinette, and let out a scream. Using her yo-yo she was able to create a barrier that mostly protected her from the blasting sound. While it was distracted Sabine snuck up behind it and knocked it to the ground.

While it was down, Marinette took the chance to try out her power, “Lucky charm!”

There was a swirl of pink light and ladybugs before an object fell into her hand. It was a red picture frame with black spots, inside was a picture of the couple. They were smiling at each other, it truly looked like they were in love.

“What is it?” Sabine asked, landing next to her daughter.

“I think it’s a picture from before the breakup, they look really happy. But what am I supposed to do with this?”

Sabine smiled, “Nothing, this is for me,'' she studied the picture for a moment longer before grabbing her flute and playing a soft melody. 

“Mirage!” the blue man was just getting up as the illusion appeared. In front of the man stood an image of him and the girl hugging and smiling. It froze for a moment, staring at the illusion until he started to fade. The man disappeared in a puff of blue smoke.

The rush of terrified people from the park had alerted the police and the news station that something was happening. At some point during the fight, a news truck appeared, filming the end of the fight. Police had tried to intervene but after a moment they backed off.

Alya came running from behind a tree. “That was amazing!” She turned to Marinette, “and who are you?”

Marinette panicked for a moment looking at her mother, then at herself, and back to Alya, trying to come up with a name. 

“Ladybug”, Huli Jing supplied, she smiled proudly at her daughter.

Marinette blushed and smiled back.

Reporters came rushing up to them asking questions about the battle, who they were, what did this mean for Paris.

After a moment, Marinette’s earrings started beeping. 

“Looks like it’s time for us to go.” Huli Jing stated to the small crowd that had gathered. She turned and jumped away, Ladybug quickly following her. They disappeared over a building, the reporters still calling out questions.

Alya watched the two heroes leave and turned towards the reporters. She had filmed the entire fight, it would be a great way to get her name into the minds of the reporters… She started to walk towards them but a sudden thought crossed her mind,  _ where was Marinette? _ She had seen the family carry the girl out but didn’t remember Marinette being with them. Searching the crowd, she spotted the family and made her way to them. 

The girl was awake now, sitting on a bench, wrapped in a blanket. 

“Hey, are you alright?” Alya asked as she got closer to the group.

The girl seemed shaken and a bit pale but otherwise unharmed. “Um… yeah, I think.”

Alya smiled “breakups can be difficult, if you want to talk about it, I can lend my ear.”

The girl looked at Alya with confusion, “what are you talking about?”

Alya faltered, “That thing that attacked you… it looked like the guy who broke up with you earlier.” She had heard Huli Jing and Ladybug talk about the thing being made from the girls heartbreak.

The girl’s confused look turned to one of concern, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I haven’t had a boyfriend for years.”

Alya froze, wasn’t this the same girl from earlier? She thought it was but maybe she was wrong. “Sorry, my mistake.”

She turned to the father of the family, “there was a girl who was supposed to help you, she was about this tall”, Alya held up her hand, “with dark hair and grey eyes. Have you seen her?”

The man nodded, “she helped us but then went looking for you. We haven’t seen her since.”

Alya looked away in thought, before thanking them and turning towards the wooded area they had been in earlier.

_ What if she got hurt looking for me? _ Alya ran to look for her new friend.

Marinette followed her mom, first over a building before ducking through an alley and back into the wooded part of the park. Fu appeared from behind a tree just as Marinette detransformed. The small kwami flew from her earrings, smiling at the girl.

“That was amazing for your first time Marinette!”

Though she was still slightly wary of the flying creature she gave it a small smile, “thank you”.

“Trixx Detransform me.” There was a flash of orange and Sabine was back to looking like she had earlier. 

“Thank you for your help Trixx.” She smiled at the small floating fox.

“Anytime Li-Mae, I’m happy to assist you.” 

Sabine pulled the necklace off and Trixx disappeared.

“You know this is only the beginning Li-Mae.” Fu said quietly as he took the necklace back from the older woman.

She sighed, “yes, I know. But this isn’t my life anymore. You’ll just have to find someone else.”

He nodded, “I understand, though I wish you would reconsider.”

“I want to help!” Marinette said suddenly.

Sabine turned to her daughter, “Xiǎo huā I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Please mom! I’ll keep my grades up and I’ll do extra chores! I just… I really feel like I can help. Like… like this is what I’m supposed to do.”

“You could get hurt!”

“But if I don’t, a lot of other people could get hurt. Innocent people who can’t fight these monsters.” She gave her mom a determined look.

Sabine stared at her for a moment before giving a deep sigh and turning back to Fu. “She only trains on the weekends, and I expect to be kept in the loop about what’s happening.”

She turned back to her daughter, “If at any point you feel overwhelmed, or don’t want to do this anymore, you are under no obligation to continue, okay? Your health and happiness comes first as far as I’m concerned.”

Marinette wrapped her arms around her mother, “Thank you mom! Don’t worry, I’ll keep Paris safe!”

“Marinette! Where are you?” 

The three turned towards the call. 

“Alya!” Marinette turned away from her mom, “I’m gonna go check on her! Love you! See you in a bit!” 

“Marinette!” The girl paused, turning back, “you need to keep this a secret. At this point, we don’t know who our enemy is and the less who know who Ladybug is, the better.”

She nodded before running towards Alya’s calls.

“Alya! There you are! I was so worried!” Marinette ran up, acting like she had been searching for her friend during the fight. She ran up to her, almost tackling her in a hug. Alya returned it, relief coursing through her as she saw that Marinette wasn’t hurt.

“You were worried! I thought you got out with that family but I saw them a few minutes ago and they said you came after me!” They turned and headed back out of the trees. 

“Girl, you missed so much! There were these two heroes and they looked amazing!” Alya pulled out her phone, “I was able to film the entire fight! Isn’t this amazing!”

Marinette watched the footage, at first she thought she would have to act surprised but once she saw herself it was no longer fake. She almost didn’t recognize herself. Her dark hair looked blue in the sunlight, and was pulled into two low pigtails adorned with red ribbons. She wore a red bodysuit with long black boots and gloves, and her torso was covered in black spots. A red mask with black spots covered her eyes.

_ Well at least I don’t need to worry about anyone recognizing me. _ She thought to herself as they walked towards the lingering crowd.

Alya spotted a reporter and perked up even more, “want to go with me to give my video to that reporter? I think this could be the start of my own reporting career!” 

The two walked over and after a few minutes talking with the reporter, Marinette spotted the girl from earlier.

“Hey Alya, isn’t that the girl who was sad because that guy broke up with her?”

Alya looked over at the girl, a strange look on her face. “I… don’t know. I mean, I thought it was, but I tried talking to her earlier when she was with that family and she said she hadn’t had a boyfriend in years and didn’t know what I was talking about.”

Marinette quirked a brow and turned to watch the woman leave the park.

After ensuring that Rose and Juleka were safe, they were eating pastries when the other two got back to the bakery, the four said their goodbyes and Marinette’s friends left. Marinette could see Alya showing Rose and Juleka the video as they walked away and she smiled even as shook her head, turning to go up to her room.

Once she was alone, the small red kwami flew from her purse.  _ Oh yeah, I almost forgot about this _ . She stared at the creature in silence for a few moments before taking a deep breath.

“Okay, why don’t we get to know each other better.”


End file.
